Grand Rapids Griffins - defend the cup

Felt bad for the Heat last night....they're getting kicked out of town by the arena authority (next stop, Glens Fals, NY?) so there were like a dozen people there for what was most likely the last home game ever.

Griffs looked amazing...do not sleep on Andej Nestrasil. It took him a couple of years to develop, but he has a very nice game between the dots. I'm not sweating the Jarnkrok trade nearly as much having seen Janmark play a game or two. He's, bigger and he has some skills...he made a very nice move tot he cage to set up Parkes on that first goal last night.

It's kinda bittersweet for me, though. Knowing Blashill's going to be plucked by the Leafs and s***. blargh.

The way he was talking last week it sounds like he wants to see out his contract with the Griffs (summer 2015)

"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk

I am not sure if this could happen but if i'm wrong someone please correct me.

Anthony Mantha and Val'dor are down to the final game, if they lose they are eliminated. Mantha should be able to come to GR should his team be eliminated which makes our team even better. I have a feeling he will score quite a bit of goals for us. This will also help him get ready to hopefully get a chance for the team next year. The kid is incredible.

I am not sure if this could happen but if i'm wrong someone please correct me.

Anthony Mantha and Val'dor are down to the final game, if they lose they are eliminated. Mantha should be able to come to GR should his team be eliminated which makes our team even better. I have a feeling he will score quite a bit of goals for us. This will also help him get ready to hopefully get a chance for the team next year. The kid is incredible.

Season Stats:

57GP 57G 63A 120P

Playoff Stats:

15GP 17G 7A 24P

It's already been pointed out elsewhere that Mantha is disqualified from playing in this AHL postseason due to not being on the roster prior to the end of the regular season. This applies to DeKeyser as well.

Dekeyser isn't eligible to play for Grand Rapids because he's played too many NHL games. I may be wrong but I think the rule you're referencing is for sending players down to the AHL from an NHL team.

As far as I know Mantha is completely eligible to join the Griffins just as Ouellet and Sproul did last season. He seems to think he's eligible based on this quote.

“To be honest, I’m not really thinking about it,” he said. “I’m trying to focus on my playoffs right now. Who knows? Maybe if Grand Rapids (Detroit’s AHL affiliate) go far this year, I might head up after my season here is finished.”

It's already been pointed out elsewhere that Mantha is disqualified from playing in this AHL postseason due to not being on the roster prior to the end of the regular season. This applies to DeKeyser as well.

To be perfectly honest, my interest in hockey has been wavering at best - failing to watch as much as a period of the NHL Playoffs to this point - but I am extremely excited for the Calder Cup Playoffs and to be at the Van Andel on Wednesday.

The way he was talking last week it sounds like he wants to see out his contract with the Griffs (summer 2015)

This is encouraging. But I think it's extremely unlikely he stays with the organization much longer.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

I don't think its an accident that his contract ends at the exact same time as Babcock's

And Babcock says he thinks a man is no longer effective after 9 (I think, don't remember the exact number) years in a job and next year will be his 9th year as head coach here.

If Blashill becomes Babcock's successor, it will be because the same guy has been coaching the same players for too long. The irony is that he (Blashill) will actually have coached a lot of the guys on the 2015 Red Wings team for several years already via the Griffins. Not exactly a fresh face.